Thirty-one members of the Boilermakers Local 203 at the North Atlantic oil refinery in Come By Chance, N.L., collected their shares of a $60 million Lotto Max jackpot Wednesday in St. John’s. (Keith Gosse/The Canadian Press)

Thirty-one workers in Newfoundland share $60-million lotto win

The group of oil refinery co-workers bought the lucky Lotto Max ticket last week

More than 30 Newfoundland construction workers became instant millionaires today when the Atlantic Lottery Corp. handed them a cheque worth a whopping $60 million.

The 31 winners and their jubilant family members gathered at a convention centre in St. John’s to receive the huge jackpot after the group of oil refinery co-workers bought the lucky Lotto Max ticket last week.

The group assembled two rows deep on a stage, and described their shocked reactions when they found out they won the lottery — the biggest jackpot yet in Atlantic Canada and one of the top five in Canada.

One winner said she was shaking after realizing they had the winning numbers, which was confirmed when she went to the local gas station to check the ticket.

The sole woman in the group joked that some of the men wondered if she had been drinking when she called them all Saturday morning to let them know.

She says 26 of them plan to return to work at the Come By Chance refinery, despite the massive win.